Declaring the Gospel in Obedience to God

The apostle's message and ministry was being validated by signs and wonders to unify the believers in the early days of the Church. The apostles were held in high esteem by the general public, but there a fear that kept unbelievers from tagging along as their followers. When people saw the signs, heard the message of the Gospel, and believed that fear was gone.

The Sadducees grew jealous of the growing number of followers the apostles had so they threw the apostles in prison to silence the message. An angel sprung them out of prison and sent them back to the Temple to keep on proclaiming the same message of salvation.

Their imprisonment became an occasion for the whole Sanhedrin to take up the matter because these same apostles had already been told to stop preaching the Gospel. Although seeing the miracles and hearing the message, neither had an impact on these religious leaders. They commanded the apostles to stop giving out the message of the Gospel to which the apostle Peter declared that they must continue having a greater obligation to be obedient to God then to them as mere men. Once again Peter speaks with boldness and shares the Gospel telling them of the forgiveness of their sins God still offered if they would simply repent and trust in Jesus Christ. Being even more hardened by the message while pierced by its truthfulness, their hatred for Christ makes them want to kill His messengers. For the time being they satisfy their hostility by having them flogged.